The eldest son of Zaire’s late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko has returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo after six years in exile, an airport official said in Kinshasa on Monday.
The official said Manda Mobutu landed in Kinshasa on Sunday on a flight from Paris and was greeted at the airport by one of his brothers and a delegation comprising former members of his father’s security staff and entourage.
Manda Mobutu, who spent his six years in exile in Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire and France, made no comment upon his arrival. However, he recently made known his intention to repatriate his father’s remains from Morocco.
Mobutu, whose 32-year kleptocratic rule left the former Zaire, a country with vast mineral resources, on its knees, died in exile in Morocco in 1997, shortly after being toppled by rebel leader Laurent Kabila, father of the current president. — Sapa-AFP